


Just To See Her Smile

by Argyle_S



Series: Caring for Kara [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 20:18:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6534943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argyle_S/pseuds/Argyle_S
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cat does what it takes to makes Kara smile.  Set between Manhunter and World’s Finest.  One-Sided Cat/Kara, Kara/James</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just To See Her Smile

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Supercat piece. If you're a James/Kara fan, it probably won't be your cup of tea.
> 
> This was intended to be a humor piece, entirely so I could have Cat use one particular meme in reference to Kara. Instead it turned into an Angsty little missing scene to explain why Cat was throwing Kara as James so much in World’s Finest. Also, completely unbetaed. Any mistakes are mine.

Cat carefully avoided looking up as James entered her office. It was low tactic. Ignoring someone as if their very presence was beneath your notice. She personally considered it somewhat petty and normally thought it was beneath her. She thought if you were going to insult someone, you should at least have the decency to look them in the eye while you do it. In this particular case she would make an exception, because if she looked James Olsen in the eyes, she had a feeling she might just claw his out.

He reached the front of her desk, and stood there for a moment, waiting. She continued to ignore him, continued to work on reading through an article which she knew was perfect, because Kara had proof read it before sending it on to her, and Kara was probably a better editor then she was at this point. Not that Cat would ever say that out loud. 

At least, not with Kara within earshot.

She had said it on paper. It was one of the many things she said in the absolutely glowing letter of recommendation she’d been continuously updating for months, waiting for the inevitable day some headhunter finally managed to turn her assistant’s head. Because she knew she would lose Kara someday. The not special girl she fired two or three times a week for the first two years. The girl she’s never once called by her proper name. The girl who did everything for her, to took care of her, protected her, saved her life, saved her younger son’s life, saved her job, and reunited her with her older son. The girl who threw her off a balcony, which she could forgive, because she was also the girl who gave her hope, and restored her faith in herself, and in people.

Losing Kara was actually what this little meeting was about, in fact.

She felt the exact moment James decided to sit down. She couldn’t have told anyone what the tell was, but there was a slight shift in the atmosphere of the room, and before he could even move towards one of the overpriced chairs in front of her desk, she spoke.

“Close the door.”

He stopped, and she could feel him looking at her for a moment, annoyed and frustrated, before he turned around and walked back to the doors to her office and closed them. She waited until he came back, and started towards one of the chairs to lift a finger off her keyboard and wagged it.

“No, no. I didn’t tell you to sit.”

“Really?” James asked.

She looked up, smiling at the look of incredulity on his face. "Really, Mister Olsen.“ She reached up and took off her glasses, folding them carefully and sitting them on her desk. "You see, we’re about to have a _private_ conversation, one for your ears only, and I want the experience to be as uncomfortable as possible.” She’d emphasized the word private, mostly because she hoped that if Kara was listening, she’d stop.

“Uh-huh,” James replied, his tone equal measures confusion and anger. She watched as he straightened up and placed his hands on his hips. A pose he’d no doubt copied, consciously or otherwise, from Superman. "And just what is this private conversation about?“

She could hear the challenge in his voice. Normally, she would welcome that. It always felt good to crush that challenge under foot. Today, she didn’t really have the patience for it.

"It’s about whether you enjoy your job, Mr. Oslen.” She waited for a moment as he stared at her blankly, clearly caught flat footed. “Because you seem to be doing your best to get me to fire you.” She could see the confusion behind his eyes, and a small part of her savored it. She knew she shouldn’t, but there was a small, tiny little part of her that wanted to absolutely destroy him. It wasn’t a part she was especially proud of, because she actually liked him. Had liked him back at the daily planet when he’d been following Clark and Lois around like a little love struck puppy. But it was the part of her that was currently winning.

“Is there a problem with my work, Miss Grant?” he asked, she she could tell the confusion was quickly being replaced by anger.

“Oh, no. Your work is passable. As a point of fact, your work is probably the least terrible of any department head in the building. No, I’m referring to your ham handed attempts at office romance.”

“What? Miss Grant, my personal relationships-”

“Shouldn’t be any of my business, and yet, here we are,” she said, cutting him off, ignoring the indignation in his voice. “Your ‘personal relationships’ cost me one of the best attorney’s in the country. I let it go, because I knew about the relationship when I hired her, because she refused my offer to fire you instead, and because I figure everyone is entitled to a one off every now and then.” She leaned forward, the tone of her voice changing from bored and dismissive to angry and vengeful. "But while I might be inclined to dismiss once as an aberration, Mr. Olsen, twice is dangerously close to becoming a pattern of behavior.“

"Twice?”

Cat looked past him, her gaze focusing on her assistant, who sat slumped at her desk, looking even frumpier than usual, and doing her best not to look into the office. She waited as James followed her gaze.

“Oh.”

“Yes, Mr. Olsen. Oh.”

He turned back towards her. “Miss Grant, what’s going on between Kara and I-”

“Finish that sentence, and I will fire you on the spot,” Cat said, because honestly, she would. She didn’t want James near Kara. She didn’t want anyone near Kara. Especially not right now. The girl was hurt, vulnerable, still reeling from being slipped some kind of Kryptonian roofie, but the polite fiction that she didn’t know Kara and Supergirl were one in the same meant she couldn’t comfort the girl because she wasn’t supposed to know why she was hurting.

Which was why she was trying to send James to do the comforting. Because really, that’s what Kara wanted. James, who was smart, and handsome, and successful all those things that women were supposed to love in a man, and who Kara was so clearly infatuated with, even if it did stir up the green eyed monster that lived in Cat’s heart and make her hate the man, just a little.

“What I am about to say to you, Mr. Olsen, will not leave this office. If it does, I won’t just send you packing back to the Daily Planet with your tail between your legs. I will see to it that ten years from now, people are still afraid to reblog your photos on Tumblr. Are we clear?” She watched as his eyes got wide, and his only response was a small nod.

“You and I both know that no one in this office is good enough for her. Not you, not the handsome little cardigan wearing hobbit… Not anyone else. But for some reason, she seems interested in you. So, whatever you did…”

“What I did-”

“Is ruin a perfectly good assistant. Look at her,” she said, raising her hand and gesturing in Kara’s direction. "She’s moping. Fix it.“

"It’s not that easy,” James said.

Cat rolled her eyes. “You do remember that Supergirl threw me off the balcony of my own building, right?” She saw the panic in his eyes and had to fight down a smile.

“What’s that got to do with me and Kara?”

“Nothing,” Cat said. “But it does go to show that it is just that easy. Supergirl wasn’t in control of her actions. Every dark impulse, every thought that our mind throws at us that we can’t control, but chose to ignore came to the front. So, she threw me off a building. But I choose to recognize that we can’t control what we think. That our mind sometimes throws random things at us because our Id’s are all spoiled little two year olds, monsters of the worst kind, that throw tantrums whenever we don’t get what we want. And I chose to remember that what I saw makes the person Supergirl is that much more amazing. She has all those dark, horrible, base impulses the rest of us have, and she chooses not to act on them. I forgave her, because I chose to remember the girl who stepped between me and certain death more than once. I chose to remember the girl who saved my son’s life. I chose to forgive her, because she would forgive me, in a heartbeat. That kind of compassion, that kind of love, demands to be answered in kind. And if you can’t, then you’re not worthy of it, but they give it anyway. People like Supergirl. People like Kiera. That’s the love that she shows to everyone around her, no matter how unworthy we are of it.”

“And if you chose to throw it back in her face because of something she said or did while she was black out drunk in a night club… Well, maybe she and Lucy are both better off without you.”

“How did you-”

Cat rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, the computer troll folded and told me the whole story before I even got around to threatening his job.” She waved her hand at him in a dismissive gesture. “Now go, take her to lunch, or whatever it is you young people do. But fix it. Before I decide she’ll stop moping faster if she doesn’t have to look at you every day.“

James nodded, and turned to go. Cat watched him stop at Kara’s desk. Watched the frown that had been there for days erased by a brilliant smile as James talked to her. Watched as she stood up and started to head into the office. Cat lifted her hand and shooed her on her way, because she’s not sure she could speak. Because it was one thing, telling James Olsen he needed to stop being an ass. It was entirely another thing to watch someone other than her put that kind of smile on Kara’s face.

Oh, it was worth it, to see that smile again, but it still hurt, because Kara was hers, and she didn’t share well at all.


End file.
